May 2012

NEWS FROM FCC MEETING

FCC DEDICATES SPECTRUM ENABLING MEDICAL BODY AREA NETWORKS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission today advanced its wireless health care agenda by adopting rules that will enable Medical Body Area Networks (MBANs), low-power wideband networks consisting of multiple body-worn sensors that transmit a variety of patient data to a control device. MBAN devices free patients from cumbersome cables that tether them to their hospital bed. MBANs provide a cost effective way to monitor every patient in a healthcare institution, so clinicians can provide real-time and accurate data, allowing them to intervene and save lives. In the First Report and Order, the Commission allocates 40 MHz of spectrum at 2360-2400 MHz for MBAN use on a secondary basis. It will accommodate MBAN use through an expansion of the existing Medical Device Radiocommunication (MedRadio) Service in Part 95 of our rules. This structure, which will permit MBAN devices to operate on a ‘license-by-rule’ basis in which users will not have to apply for and receive individual station licenses, will lead to the rapid and widespread development of innovative new MBAN applications. All MBAN use of the 2360-2390 MHz band will be subject to registration with an MBAN coordinator and additional coordination if warranted by location. Use of this 30 megahertz band will be restricted to indoor operation at health care facilities. MBAN devices that operate in the 2390-2400 MHz band will not require registration and coordination, and may be used in any location – including in-home residential settings. A Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking asks questions about the selection of an MBAN coordinator or coordinators.
benton.org/node/124242 | Federal Communications Commission | see the Repot & Order | The Hill
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FCC EXPLORES USE OF EMERGENCY AERIAL COMMUNICATIONS TO ENABLE QUICK RESTORATION OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR FIRST RESPONDERS,
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission adopted a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) to explore the use of Deployable Aerial Communications Architecture (DACA) technologies. DACA technologies are aerial technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles, weather balloons or existing aircraft that could provide emergency communications during or immediately after a major disaster, when terrestrial communications infrastructures may be damaged or disrupted. Federal, state, and local governments are constantly working to improve their emergency communications
capabilities when a disaster strikes. Yet there remains a gap during the first 72 hours after a catastrophic event when communications may be disrupted or completely disabled due to damaged facilities, widespread power outages, and lack of access by restoration crews into the affected area. DACA could provide temporary emergency communications to emergency management officials, first responders, critical infrastructure industry personnel, and the public to use their day-to-day communications devices seamlessly during and immediately after an emergency. Most significant, the use of DACA to ensure quick restoration of emergency communications could save lives.
In its Notice of Inquiry, the Commission seeks comment on:
the deployment and operation of DACA technologies;
the associated costs and benefits;
coordinating and managing the use of DACA technologies; and
authorizing the use of spectrum to support their operation.
The Notice of Inquiry also addresses DACA system performance issues, including questions on coverage area, capacity, interference mitigation, and interoperability.
benton.org/node/124240 | Federal Communications Commission | The Hill
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FCC PROMOTES WIRELESS INVESTMENT AND DEPLOYMENT IN THE 800 MHz SMR BAND
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a Report and Order that reduces barriers to the deployment of broadband, encourages investment in wireless technologies, and facilitates the efficient use of spectrum by re vising a burdensome legacy regulation that unnecessarily constrained 800 MHz Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) licensees. The Report and Order amends the Commission’s rules to allow geographically-based SMR licensees to operate across contiguous channels without a rigid channel spacing requirement or bandwidth limitation. Lifting the unduly restrictive limitations currently in place will enable licensees to fully and more efficiently utilize their licensed spectrum and transition their networks from legacy 2G technologies to 3G as well as other advanced technologies such as LTE. The Report and Order balances these benefits with the continuing need to protect 800 MHz public safety operations from interference and maintain the significant strides made in the ongoing 800 MHz reconfiguration process, whereby 800 MHz operations are being relocated to protect public safety licensees against interference.
benton.org/node/124238 | Federal Communications Commission
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ADVANCEMENT IN ACCESSIBILITY
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communications Commission will accept nominations for the Chairman’s Awards for Advancement in Accessibility (Chairman’s AAA) from May 31, 2012 through July 31, 2012 for products, services, technologies or practices introduced to the public between July 31, 2011 and July 31, 2012. The Chairman’s AAA is an FCC project coordinated by the Commission’s Accessibility and Innovation Initiative (A&I Initiative) that recognizes outstanding private and public sector ventures designed to advance accessibility for people with disabilities. These outstanding ventures include, for example, the development of individual mainstream or assistive technologies introduced into the marketplace, the development of standards, and the implementation of best practices that foster accessibility. The Chairman’s AAA is designed to recognize the efforts of individuals, organizations, academics, companies and government agencies to make communication tools easier to use and more accessible to people with disabilities, and to encourage technological innovation and accessibility in communications-related areas.
Nominations will be accepted in the following seven categories:
Education: College/University
Deaf-Blind Solutions
Video Programming Device Solutions
Geo-location Solutions
Mobile Apps
Consumer Empowerment Information
Civic Participation Solutions
benton.org/node/124183 | Federal Communications Commission
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS

KOHL ON VERIZON-SPECTRUMCO
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl (D-WI) said that Verizon Wireless' bid to buy spectrum and enter into marketing agreements with a group of cable companies raises "serious competition concerns." "Without reaching any final judgment as to the legality of these transactions under antitrust laws or the Communications Act, I believe these transactions present serious competition concerns, which should be examined closely by your agencies," Chairman Kohl said in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski. In considering the spectrum sale, Chairman Kohl urged both the FCC and Justice to consider whether selling a valuable chunk of spectrum to the nation's biggest wireless provider would harm competition. In weighing such transactions, the FCC must determine whether such deals are in the "public interest." "The FCC should be guided by the principle that wireless spectrum is not simply a privately held commercial asset but consists of the public airwaves to be deployed in the public interest," Chairman Kohl wrote. "For this reason, the parties to the transaction bear the burden of proving that it will serve the public interest." Verizon argues that the cable firms are not using the stretch of spectrum, called Advanced Wireless Services or AWS, now and that it would use it to build out its next-generation 4G wireless service. Verizon has pledged to sell two other spectrum licenses if its deal with the cable firms is approved. Chairman Kohl also raised issues with the marketing agreements, noting that Verizon and the cable firms are currently "fierce" competitors in the dozen states where Verizon offers its FiOS fiber Internet, phone and video service. Critics argue that the marketing deals amount to a truce between Verizon and the cable firms and could lead to higher prices and less choice for consumers for wired Internet, phone and video service. Noting the "potential risks to competition," Kohl urged Justice to consider trying to block the marketing agreements from taking hold in areas where Verizon has deployed or is planning to launch its FiOS service if the agency determines that the deals would violate antitrust laws.
benton.org/node/124190 | National Journal | The Hill
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LEE DEFENDS VERIZON DEAL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Andrew Feinberg]
Sen Mike Lee (R-Utah), ranking member on the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, defended the proposed deal to allow Verizon to purchase spectrum from a consortium of cable companies. “I do not believe the spectrum purchase or commercial agreements will restrict competition or otherwise harm consumers," Sen Lee writes in a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and Attorney General Eric Holder, in response to calls from antitrust subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl (D-WI) for regulators to closely scrutinize the deal. “The evidence suggests that these agreements are primarily pro competitive and will benefit consumers by putting previously fallow spectrum to efficient use, expanding consumer choice through the introduction of a new bundled offering and spurring innovation in the development of new technologies and products," said Sen Lee, who is in favor of the deal. He said regulators must analyze the spectrum deal "in light of the increasingly severe spectrum crunch facing the wireless industry and consumers of wireless services."
benton.org/node/124229 | Hill, The
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VERIZON CLAIMS 36 BUYERS INTERESTED
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Phil Goldstein]
Verizon Wireless has so far attracted interest from 36 potential buyers for its 700 MHz Lower A and B Block spectrum, according to the carrier. Verizon made the disclosure in a letter dated May 22 it sent to the FCC. The carrier said 36 entities have signed non-disclosure agreements over the proposed sale. The disclosure was part of a larger accounting of the planned sale Verizon gave to the FCC following the commission's request for more information. Importantly, Verizon has said the sale of its Lower A and B Block spectrum is contingent on the carrier getting regulatory approval to buy more attractive nationwide AWS spectrum from cable companies. The FCC had asked Verizon to explain what steps it has taken to build out the 700 MHz spectrum, what difficulties exist in deploying that spectrum, why the 700 MHz sale is relevant to a review of the AWS spectrum purchases and what Verizon would do if the entirety of the AWS purchases were not approved. In its response, Verizon said that it has taken a number of steps to prepare to use its Lower And B Block spectrum, "including RF system design, site construction planning, and discussions with vendors. In all markets covered by these licenses, three phases of the initial RF system design have been completed: identifying cell sites for development, selecting configurations of antennas, and determining center height requirements for the antennas." Verizon said it has also "communicated with equipment vendors about procuring both devices and network equipment that will operate on" the spectrum. The nation's largest carrier also matter-of-factly stated what has been a general consensus among analysts since the proposed 700 MHz sale was announced: that AWS spectrum is better spectrum and is more complementary to Verizon's existing spectrum holdings.
benton.org/node/124161 | Fierce
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

COONS ADMITS SOPA POSED RISK TO INTERNET
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
Backers of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its Senate companion, the Protect IP Act (PIPA), have been railing against the bill's critics ever since the legislation plunged to a fiery death earlier this year. The unprecedented online protest by Google, reddit, Wikipedia, Ars Technica, Wired, and others was, the backers say, largely about misleading the public. But not every backer got the message. As PIPA co-sponsor Senator Chris Coons admitted May 23, SOPA "really did pose some risk to the Internet." He admitted that the legislative approach considered by Congress had gotten the balance wrong. One of his sons woke him up and asked "why I wanted to break the Internet and why Justin Bieber thought I should go to jail," Sen Coons said. "That was my first warning that we were not communicating effectively," Sen Coons added, but he went on the admit that the issues involved more than "communications." Some bits of the more radical SOPA, in particular, "overreached" and "really did pose some risk to the Internet."
benton.org/node/124181 | Ars Technica
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GENACHOWSKI IGNORES HARM
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] There probably was no great need for Comcast to raise the usage caps on its broadband service, as it did last week from 250 gigabytes (GB) to 300 GB per month. If the company thought for an instant that the modest increase bought it any good will from its theoretical regulators, it needn't have bothered. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) doesn't care. As FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski told the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA), data caps are simply another "business model innovation." Chairman Genachowski said that pricing based on usage "could be healthy and beneficial" to consumers. (Cable is fine with that, as is AT&T.) It could. Or it could not. The problem is that the FCC really doesn't know and doesn't display any curiosity to determine the basis on which Comcast, or any other company, are establishing, evaluating or adjusting the caps. Public Knowledge has asked the Commission repeatedly at least to ask those questions, but the FCC has repeatedly declined to do so. When consumers who want essential information and services are at the mercy of a tightly controlled marketplace dominated by big companies, which were given that dominance by regulators in the first place, the government agency charged with consumer protection should be extra vigilant. It should not make a point of making big industries feel good about themselves, which is unfortunately what happened in Boston.
benton.org/node/124218 | Public Knowledge
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GIGABIT SQUARED
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
Gigabit Squared doesn’t plan to limit itself to the Gig.U program: It wants to change the economics of delivering fiber to the home for cities across the country. That means potentially more gigabit connections across the US. Mark Ansboury, the president of Gigabit Squared, plans to lower the cost of deploying and operating a broadband network. His goal is to bring gigabit speeds to as many places as possible, and along the way he may join firms like Google, Sonic.Net, Allied Fiber and several municipalities in changing the way broadband is deployed and operated in the US. Ansboury says city involvement is just one element of cutting costs, although he declined to get into the specifics of the cost per home passed or the details of how GB2 would build its networks. He did say there are several elements that will enable Gigabit Squared to not only deploy a network for less but also sign customers and achieve a penetration rate that offers a return on Gigabit Squared’s investment. Part of that return might come from Gigabit Squared’s commitment to running “open” networks, by which Ansboury means he will resell capacity on the network to others.
benton.org/node/124178 | GigaOm
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

FACTCHECKING ADS
[SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Justin Peters]
Many local television stations do not consistently evaluate the accuracy of the political ads they air, according to survey results released by the Annenberg Public Policy Center. As Annenberg director Kathleen Hall Jamieson acknowledged, the center’s study, released during a mini-conference at the National Press Club on factchecking and the 2012 election, is of limited utility: the data was collected via an opt-in survey of 206 U.S. TV station managers and executives, and, as such, the findings can’t really be generalized. Still, the study suggests that many station managers and executives are unclear about their rights and responsibilities when faced with a political ad that takes liberties with the truth—in particular, whether they can refuse to run certain questionable ads, or suggest edits, or otherwise factcheck the content before it airs.
benton.org/node/124212 | Columbia Journalism Review
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LOCAL TV AND PRESIDENTIAL ADS
[SOURCE: Nielsen, AUTHOR: ]
During the first quarter of 2012, campaigns for the five leading U.S. presidential candidates—Newt Gingrich, Barack Obama, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum—placed nearly 66,000 advertisements on local broadcast media, according to Nielsen. Mitt Romney’s camp placed over half of those ad units (57%), while the other Republican candidates made up nearly a third of all units placed (32%) with President Obama’s ads accounting for the remaining 11 percent. Not surprisingly, spot TV was the top choice among all candidates for reaching potential voters, representing nearly 75 percent of all ad units, followed by local/regional cable networks. Rick Santorum’s campaign showed the greatest balance between the two mediums, placing 59 percent of ads on local TV stations and 34 percent on regional cable networks. President Obama’s team leaned more towards spot TV and placed over 80 percent of ads on those stations. Ads for Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney saw the largest share of local radio placements among the candidates, 13 percent and 12 percent of total campaign advertisements, respectively.
benton.org/node/124163 | Nielsen
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PRIVACY

DID GOOGLE MISLEAD CONGRESS?
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Reps. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and John Barrow (D-GA), who both serve on the House Commerce Committee, sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking the Justice Department to investigate whether Google misled Congress and regulators over its collection of data from unprotected Wi-Fi networks. In their letter, Reps Pallone and Barrow noted that Google officials had said, including in testimony before Congress, that the company had "mistakenly" collected the data and never used it. But a Federal Communications Commission report on the issue indicated that the data collection was the deliberate act of a sole Google engineer who did access the personal information. The lawmakers questioned whether the FCC's report shows that Google misled "Congress, federal regulators, and the American public" about the data collection. They asked whether the Justice Department's determination that Google did not break the law was based on the company's past statements, and if so, to re-open its investigation.
benton.org/node/124250 | Hill, The
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LAWMAKERS QUESTION TWITTER
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Andrew Feinberg]
Twitter's recent embrace of the tech industry's do-not-track standard has drawn praise from top Republicans on the House Commerce Committee. But the company's announcement that it will use new methods of highlighting "relevant" users for new users to begin following is drawing questions from two of those GOP committee members, Reps. Joe Barton (R-TX) and Cliff Stearns (R-FL), who sent a letter to Twitter CEO Dick Costolo asking about the ways the company collects and tracks user information. In the letter, Reps Barton and Stearns explained that they want to know exactly what kinds of personally identifiable information Twitter collects. They also are interested in what kind of information Twitter plans to use to highlight users for people to follow. "How will Twitter be able to determine what user accounts are 'relevant' to a new user without any history of user activity?" they asked.
benton.org/node/124230 | Hill, The
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CONTENT

APPLE RESPONSE
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jacqui Cheng]
Apple has accused the US government of siding "with monopoly, rather than competition" by suing Apple and six publishers for allegedly colluding to fix e-book prices. Apple's response to the Department of Justice's lawsuit offers strong words for the DoJ and those who believe Apple has engaged in a conspiracy with publishers in order to give itself an advantage in the market. Right off the bat, Apple's response calls the DoJ's complaint "fundamentally flawed as a matter of fact and law." The electronics giant says it negotiated individual agreements with each publisher so Apple could enter the e-book market, arguing that before the launch of the iBookstore in 2010, the only real player in the e-book space was Amazon and its Kindle Store. "At the time Apple entered the market, Amazon sold nearly nine out of every ten eBooks, and its power over price and product selection was nearly absolute," Apple wrote. "Apple’s entry spurred tremendous growth in eBook titles, range and variety of offerings, sales, and improved quality of the eBook reading experience." Throughout its 31-page response, Apple pulls no punches in expressing its opinion about the accusations. The electronic giant says the government started with a "false premise" and calls the DoJ action "absurd." Apple also says the government fails to show how the "agency model," which is what the iBookstore uses and Amazon now uses, harms consumers. The strategy has been "long recognized as perfectly lawful," Apple argues, and if not for the agency model, Apple would not have entered the e-book market in the first place.
benton.org/node/124180 | Ars Technica | GigaOm
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GOOGLE TAKEDOWN REPORT
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Jeff John Roberts]
Google today released a new picture of the millions of links it scrubs from its search results in response to requests from Microsoft, movie studios and other content owners. In a reflection of the evolving nature of anti-piracy enforcement, the company revealed that it takes down 250,000 search links each week over copyright concerns, a figure that exceeds the total number it removed in all of 2009. The data arrived as a new section in Google’s Transparency Report, a set of findings that show how governments — and now private actors — are removing pages from the internet. Google’s senior copyright counsel, Fred von Lohmann, stressed in an interview that the vast majority of the takedown requests are legitimate and come in response to sites offering unauthorized copies of software, entertainment or pornography.
benton.org/node/124221 | GigaOm
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DISH SUES NETWORKS
[SOURCE: The Wrap, AUTHOR: Tim Molloy]
Dish sued the big four television networks over its new ad-skipping Auto Hop feature, even as Fox filed the first network lawsuit to stop Dish from offering the technology. Dish sought a federal court's "declaratory judgment on questions" related to Auto Hop, which allows viewers to skip commercials when they watch previously aired shows. Fox, meanwhile, accused Dish of copyright violations. The lawsuits could be the first of many. Dish said in its filing that it was suing because "the Major Television Networks have threatened it with litigation" intended to stifle Auto Hop, which it debuted May 10. Fox made good on that threat. "We were given no choice but to file suit against one of our largest distributors, Dish Network, because of their surprising move to market a product with the clear goal of violating copyrights and destroying the fundamental underpinnings of the broadcast television ecosystem," Fox said in a statement. "Their wrongheaded decision requires us to take swift action in order to aggressively defend the future of free, over-the-air television." Dish sued Fox, NBC, ABC and CBS in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York. Fox sued Dish in the Central District of California.
benton.org/node/124216 | Wrap, The
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SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE NEWS CYCLE
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Ryan Kim]
With each passing elections season, we’re seeing more how social media is changing the business of political news coverage. It’s not just sped up the news cycle, but it’s helped kill it, said Josh Marshall, editor and publisher of TalkingPointsMemo. Marshall appeared with Vivian Schiller, chief digital officer of NBC News at the paidContent 2012 conference, where the two talked about how social media has influenced and reshaped the news business. Marshall said social media is part of a larger continuum that began with the Internet and the rise of blogs. With social media, he said, the news business has become frictionless and fluid and, in some cases, chaotic. But it’s helped wrest control away from traditional news powers and helped do away with the notion of a news cycle. “Parties and counter-parties can get back into a story rapidly, whether it’s on Twitter or this or that. It’s about immediate access so a story can play out without the slowdown of a news cycle,” Marshall said. Vivian Schiller said social media has become an organic part of news organizations, which are finding that it can be a liberating force, providing new ways to engage their audience and also push out content. She said social media is also helpful in weeding out trivial news, while allowing more voices to be heard on bigger stories.
benton.org/node/124166 | paidContent.org
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JOURNALISM

TIMES PICAYUNE REDUCING PRINT EDITION
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Carr]
The New Orleans Times-Picayune, which distinguished itself amid great adversity during Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, is about to enact large staff cuts and may cut back its daily print publishing schedule, according to two employees with knowledge of the plans. Newhouse Newspapers, which owns the Times-Picayune, will apparently be working off a blueprint the company used in Ann Arbor (MI), where it reduced the frequency of the Ann Arbor News, emphasized the Web site as a primary distributor of news and in the process instituted wholesale layoffs to cut costs.
benton.org/node/124189 | New York Times
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS

WHO WILL SET UP PUBLIC SAFETY NETWORK?
[SOURCE: Government Technology, AUTHOR: ]
Federal legislation earlier this year made it a national priority to build a wireless broadband network that will enable true interoperability among first responders and public safety officials across the country. The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, signed by President Obama on Feb. 22, 2012, set aside $7 billion in federal grants to make the network a reality. The act also established “FirstNet”, an independent authority within NTIA, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. NTIA is an agency of the Department of Commerce. The FirstNet Board of Directors will be charged with executing a nationwide first responder broadband network, by determining its policies and architecture, issuing bids and overseeing contracts and ensuring its solvency through leveraging current wireless infrastructure. The board is also expected to engage public safety entities at all levels of government, as well as ensure that the network is resilient and protected from potential threats. Many questions remain, such as how and if existing radio systems that have been regionally deployed will be brought into the national network.
benton.org/node/124175 | Government Technology
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

STATE DEPT REPORT
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Josh Smith]
Last year technology helped more people exercise their rights, but in 2011 more countries restricted access to the Internet or used technology to repress, according to the State Department's annual human rights report. "New connective technologies spread news of citizen activism, and political change, around the world," the report noted. "People continued to find innovative ways to use technology to break down the walls of fear and isolation that undemocratic governments erected to try to keep their populations quiescent. Yet repressive regimes also used those same technologies to spy on their own citizens for the purposes of silencing dissent." That paradox played out in Vietnam, Iran, and Ethiopia, where governments restricted access to the Internet and blocked certain websites. The human rights situation deteriorated in China, where the government "exercised tight control over Internet access and content," according to the report.
benton.org/node/124222 | National Journal
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OPEN GOVERNMENT

GENACHOWSKI RESPONDS TO GRASSLEY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski defended the FCC's openness and transparency against charges by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) that the FCC was one of the worst agencies at complying with document requests. That came at the press conference following the FCC's first meeting with its two new commissioners, whose appointments Sen Grassley had blocked for months claiming the FCC was stonewalling his document requests. "We have shown in many different ways our commitment to transparency," Chairman Genachowski said. He pointed out that Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) had recently issued a report card grading a number of federal agencies on their compliance with FOIA and that the FCC had gotten an A. "We will continue to cooperate and to be transparent as we have been."
benton.org/node/124223 | Broadcasting&Cable
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OWNERSHIP

WHAT ORACLE-GOOGLE DECISION MEANS
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Simon Phipps]
The jury in the Oracle-Google trial has found than none of the eight remaining claims in the two remaining patents was infringed by Google in Android as Oracle had alleged. Rather than the original $6 billion damages, it's doubtful Oracle can hope for more than $32 million. And for that, APIs need to be declared subject to copyright (we won't know the outcome of the API copyright ability part of the case until next week when Judge Alsup deliver his opinion). This is great news for the whole Android ecosystem. Oracle no longer has any grounds to request an injunction disrupting the flow of value or products, nor grounds to force per-unit royalty payments for these patents. Moreover, since the patents brought to trial were the best-of-the-best available, it seems unlikely that Oracle will be able to bring patent suits of this kind against Android again in the future.
benton.org/node/124158 | InfoWorld
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AEREO CASE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Christopher Stewart, Merissa Marr]
When Barry Diller backed a start-up that streams local broadcast signals over the Internet, it looked like another unorthodox move by a famously offbeat mogul. Now that start-up has become a grenade that is threatening to wound the television industry. Major TV networks' legal efforts to shut down the service, called Aereo, will be tested in federal court next week. Lawyers not involved in the case say the company has a decent argument, based on legal precedents set in prior media industry lawsuits. The TV industry is closely watching how the case plays out, particularly because Aereo doesn't share any of the fees it collects with broadcasters, who claim copyright infringement. So, as Time Warner Cable Chief Executive Glenn Britt hinted recently, a victory in court by Aereo could embolden cable and satellite-TV operators to stop paying fees to carry broadcast networks' signal. That revenue has become increasingly vital to broadcasters over the past couple of years, offsetting weak growth in advertising.
benton.org/node/124251 | Wall Street Journal
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NEWS FROM ABROAD

WIRELESS PHONE SUBSIDIES
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Leila Abboud]
Save up now for that new iPhone: the era of free or cut-price phones when signing a new mobile phone contract may be soon be over in Europe. Telecom companies, facing a profit squeeze from fierce competition and regulatory pressures, are taking the knife to the generous subsidies that allow new mobile customers to get the latest smartphones on the cheap. Two of Europe's biggest telecom operators, Vodafone and Telefonica, are using Spain as a testing ground for this big change in their business model, while in France a new ultra-low cost mobile player Iliad won clients with a no-subsidy approach. It's a gamble that could boost telcos' bottom lines but could also lose them customers in recession-hit Europe.
benton.org/node/124227 | Reuters
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EU AND MICROSOFT
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: John Paczkowski]
June 27. That’s the day Microsoft will learn whether anything has come of its challenge to the $1.14 billion penalty the European Union slapped it with eight years ago for failing to comply with its antitrust decision. In just over a month’s time, the EU’s General Court will rule on Microsoft’s appeal of the fine, the culmination of a long, contentious legal battle over interoperability. Issued after it was determined that Microsoft had failed to comply with a 2004 antitrust judgment that required the company to charge fair and reasonable rates for its interoperability protocols, the $1.14 billion fine was the largest ever imposed by the EU against a single company, and the very first to be meted out for noncompliance with an EU court order. It was also, in Microsoft’s opinion, “unnecessary, unlawful and totally disproportionate.”
benton.org/node/124187 | Wall Street Journal
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HUAWEI SUES INTERDIGITAL
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Aoife White]
Huawei, China’s largest phone-equipment maker, filed an antitrust complaint with European Union regulators that accuses InterDigital of refusing to license key wireless patents. Huawei alleges that InterDigital is abusing a dominant position for 3G technology patents agreed as industry standards and has made “unreasonable and discriminatory demands” on license fees, said Roland Sladek, a spokesman for Huawei in Shenzhen, China. Huawei filed the complaint because there was “no foreseeable resolution” to talks on the fees. InterDigital, based in King of Prussia (PA), owns about 1,300 U.S. patents related to mobile phones. Last year, InterDigital filed a case with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, alleging that Huawei, Nokia Oyj, ZTE Corp. and LG Electronics Inc. infringed patents related to so-called third-generation wireless technology. It has also sued the companies in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, making the same allegations.
benton.org/node/124184 | Bloomberg
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MURDOCH BID MANEUVERING
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: John Burns, Alan Cowell]
The long-running judicial inquiry into the cloistered world of Britain’s media barons and powerful politicians produced a new and potentially damaging insight into the internal maneuvering within Prime Minister David Cameron’s government as it considered Rupert Murdoch’s $12 billion bid last year to take control of the country’s most powerful and lucrative commercial television network. The Murdoch bid for British Sky Broadcasting, or BSkyB, one of the most ambitious in his 60-year career, was ultimately abandoned as public and political outrage mounted over the pattern of phone hacking and other wrongdoing at the two tabloids that anchored the Murdoch media empire in Britain. But an e-mail introduced as evidence at the inquiry into the scandal showed more clearly than ever how strongly the currents favoring the BSkyB takeover were running within the Conservatives who dominate Mr. Cameron’s coalition government before the scandal erupted. The e-mail was sent to Cameron by Jeremy Hunt, the cabinet minister who was eventually given responsibility for deciding whether to approve the takeover bid, only weeks before Cameron handed power over the bid to him, under terms that required Mr. Hunt to take an impartial, “quasi-judicial” approach to the takeover. Hunt was given the task in January 2011 after Mr. Cameron took it away from another cabinet minister, Vince Cable, who had been secretly recorded by undercover newspaper reporters saying that he had “declared war” against Murdoch over the bid.
benton.org/node/124246 | New York Times | Wall Street Journal
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WIRELESS PHONE USE IN CHINA
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Beth Callaghan]
A new study from Forrester Research on technology adoption by urban Chinese consumers also illustrates the power of the mobile Internet in China. Out of more than 3,600 people surveyed, 71 percent use their phones to go online at least once daily. Fully one-third of the consumers surveyed own two or more active mobile phones.
benton.org/node/124244 | Wall Street Journal
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